Pink Flag
|isbn=978-0-826-42914-8 |page=3}} | Recorded = September–October 1977 | Studio = Advision Studios, London, England, UK | Genre = | Length = 35:37 | Label = Harvest | Producer = Mike Thorne | This album = Pink Flag (1977) | Next album = Chairs Missing (1978) }} Pink Flag is the debut studio album by English band Wire. It was released in November 1977, through Harvest Records. Though the album failed to chart on its initial release, it has been widely acclaimed and is considered by critics and other commentators to have been highly influential on many other musicians since its release. Critical reception | rev2 = Christgau's Record Guide | rev2Score = A | rev3 = Encyclopedia of Popular Music | rev3Score = | rev4 = Pitchfork | rev4Score = 10/10 | rev5 = Q | rev5Score = | rev6 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide | rev6Score = | rev7 = Spin Alternative Record Guide | rev7Score = 10/10 | rev8 = Uncut | rev8Score = }} Upon its release, Robert Christgau of The Village Voice called Pink Flag a "punk suite" and praised its "simultaneous rawness and detachment" and detected a rock-and-roll irony similar to but "much grimmer and more frightening" than the Ramones. In a retrospective review, Steve Huey of AllMusic opined that Pink Flag was "perhaps the most original debut album to come out of the first wave of British punk" and also "recognizable, yet simultaneously quite unlike anything that preceded it. Pink Flag s enduring influence pops up in hardcore, post-punk, alternative rock, and even Britpop, and it still remains a fresh, invigorating listen today: a fascinating, highly inventive rethinking of punk rock and its freedom to make up your own rules." Trouser Press called the album "a brilliant 21-song suite" in which the band "manipulated classic rock song structure by condensing them into brief, intense explosions of attitude and energy, coming up with a collection of unforgettable tunes". Legacy Although the album was released to critical acclaim,Accolades archived at Acclaimed Music. Retrieved 12 May 2018. |isbn=978-0-851-12786-6 |page=236 |quote=Abrasive and disjointed, these 21 tracks exude a fury impossible to ignore and one enhanced by their very brevity.}} |isbn=978-1-840-84031-5 |quote=The artily unintelligible lyrics and dense production marked Wire out as a sort of New Wave Roxy Music.}} p. 170. |isbn=978-1-844-03714-8 |quote=The most original album of punk's first wave....The resulting sound was far colder and more brutal than anything else around at the time.}}NME (January 2006). 100 Greatest British Albums Ever!. [http://www.rocklistmusic.co.uk/nmes_100_best_albums.htm#Greatest%20British%20Albums Pink Flag was placed no. 83]. Retrieved 6 September 2013. it was not a big seller. It was listed at number 412 on Rolling Stone s list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2012 and at number 378 in NME's list of the same name in 2013. Music journalist Stuart Maconie described it as "extraordinary" by the standards of the time at which it was produced. |isbn=978-0-091-89745-1 |page=108}} Pitchfork ranked Pink Flag number 22 in its list "Top 100 Albums of the 1970s". The album was included in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. The album's wide-ranging influence is exemplified by the number of bands which have covered its songs. Hardcore punk and post-hardcore acts that have covered songs from Pink Flag include Henry Rollins ("Ex Lion Tamer", on Drive by Shooting), Minor Threat ("1 2 X U", on Flex Your Head), and Firehose ("Mannequin", on Live Totem Pole), while Minutemen attributed to Pink Flag their approach of recording and releasing briefer songs. American alternative rock band R.E.M. reworked "Strange" on their 1987 album Document. Britpop band Elastica also used a riff similar to that of "Three Girl Rhumba" for their song "Connection".Dimery, Robert; Lydon, Michael (2011). "Elastica's borrowing from "Three Girl Rhumba" for 1994's "Connection". Graham Coxon of Blur cited Pink Flag as an influence on his eighth studio album A+E.''Q'' magazine, April 2012 issue. Track listing * The bonus tracks were removed from the 2006 remastered reissues, because, according to the band, they didn't honour the "conceptual clarity of the original statements". The tracks were also left off of both editinos of Pink Flag's 2018 remaster, but can be found on the 2018 deluxe reissue of Chairs Missing. Personnel ;Wire * Bruce Gilbert – guitar, sleeve concept * Robert Gotobed – drums * Graham Lewis – bass guitar, sleeve concept * Colin Newman – vocals, guitar on "Lowdown" and "Strange" ;Additional personnel * Kate Lukas – flute on "Strange" * Dave Oberlé – back-up vocals on "Mannequin" ;Production * Denis Blackham – remastering (2006 reissue) * Richard Bray – back cover photography * Tim Chacksfield – project co-ordination (1994 reissue) * David Dragon – art direction * Annette Green – front and back cover photography * Paul Hardiman – engineer * Lynda House – back cover photography * Phil Smee – packaging (1994 reissue) * Ken Thomas – assistant engineer * Mike Thorne – production References External links * * * * |isbn=978-0-571-25227-5}} Category:1977 debut albums Category:Harvest Records albums Category:Restless Records albums Category:Wire (band) albums Category:Albums produced by Mike Thorne Category:1977 albums